Episode 008 - Smashing Heads and a Little Latin Lovin
The opening skit parodies a Latin Soap Opera, in which Kaylee, Ryan and Tim tries to act out a scene until the party is crashed by Josh. Ryan also explains the head smashing effect as seen in PMS the Horror Movie and lighting techniques, during which Josh constantly creeps out Ryan. Episode Run-time: 12:02 Head Smashing Effect *Difficulty: HARD *Needs: **Tool Box **Adobe After Effects **Blood splatter asset *Cost: $0 (if you already have a tool box) #Have your actor lay on the ground and act out the scene. When the actor acts out the scene of the impact, make sure they do not move their body too much as you will need to mask out their body in post production. #Get your second actor, the one smashing the head, kneel next to your grounded actor. Place a small object, e.g. a penny, under the grounded actor's head on the floor. Now move your grounded actor out of frame. #Before acting out the scene, make sure your head smasher actor not move their legs or their position as this will allow for seemless blending in post. Have your actor smash the penny with the tool box. #Import your footage into After Effects and place your grounded actor footage under your head smasher footage. #Like the teleporting effect, you will need to go frame by frame and mask the head smashing actor. Make sure that your blending mode on your mask is set to "Add." #*Note: If your head smashing actor or actress has long hair, have them put it up as it is very difficult to mask out. #For final touches, have blood bursts coming out from under the tool box and use the effect CC Smear to warp your grounded actor's face as the tool box starts to hit it (for realism). Basic Lighting Technique Three-point Lighting *Difficulty: Easy *Needs: **Three light sources Three point lighting is the most basic form of lighting outside of using the sun. Its general principles can be found in just about any lighting setup. Three-point lighting consists of three light sources positioned in a particular order. #The key light is your primary light. It is used as the primary light source to illuminate your actor or subject. While it is the main source, it causes deep contrast and shadows. #The fill light is your secondary light. It is there to fill in the shadows that remain unlit by your key light, thereby bringing back details on your actor or subject. You can also control the intensity of the fill light to allow for higher or lower contrast. #The back light, as its name implies, is there to illuminate the back of your actor or subject, which allows them to stand out. To make things interesting, experiment with your lights. Have them positioned at a high angle or a low angle. Maybe play around with turning off your fill light (low key) or turn up the intensity (high key). Episode Sponsors Squarspace and Netflix Category:Episodes Category:Visual Effects Category:Basics